


Career Day Blues

by MurdockSchmurdock



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Art, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Flash Thompson Being A Jerk, Flash Thompson Bullies Peter Parker, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Beta Read, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Has A Heart, career day trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:59:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24545788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MurdockSchmurdock/pseuds/MurdockSchmurdock
Summary: Peter Parker hates Career Day. He doesn't think that will ever change, but I guess having a Genius, Billionaire, ex-Playboy, Philanthropist mentor around might shake things up a little.Tony shows up at Peter's school trope that should've been a lot shorter than it is.
Relationships: Happy Hogan & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Flash Thompson, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 158
Kudos: 1423
Collections: Irondad and his Iron kids, Peter Parker Stories, The Best Irondad/Spiderson Fics, The Best Peter Parker Fluff Fics, The Best Peter Parker Whump Fics, ellie marvel fics - read





	1. Oh golly sure do love being bullied haha :)))

Peter hated Career Day. He’d hated it as long as he could remember.

It was like science fairs, and project presentations, and holiday parties, but far, far worse. Because Career Day, though masquerading as an fun, educational event, was really just a glorified pissing-match of whose parents had a cooler, better paying job. And Peter, of course, had literally none of those. 

Sure, May was his parent, but she wasn’t his, like, real mom, and at least three other kids would always bring their someone or other who was a nurse, and they really weren’t well off because of it, unlike the families of almost every other Midtown student. In third grade, Ben had surprised him by signing up, and everyone in his class thought his shiny NYPD badge and stories were the coolest thing ever. Until one of his classmates decided to loudly ask “Didn’t your parents come last year? Who’s this?”.

After that, Peter always declined his offers when the sign-up sheets went out, insisting that it wasn’t all that big of a deal, he didn’t care too much about it anyway. 

Then Ben died, and it made it all that much harder. Now he really didn’t have anyone to turn to, especially with May taking all the shifts she could just to keep his newly developed metabolism fed. He spent most of his first High School Career Day in the bathroom choking back tears as he tried to block out the joyful voices surrounding him. 

So when Mr. Harrington slapped the yellow stack of sign-up papers down in front of him, all Peter could do was groan and drop his head on his desk. His teacher didn’t seem to notice, and continued passing the sheets around. The excited chatter began to pick up as he finished and returned to the white board, writing out “CAREER DAY :)” in scrawling handwriting, as if it wasn’t already printed in bold font at the top of every sheet.

“Alright, everyone,” He shouted over the growing commotion, “We have a very special end of the year treat for you! Career Day will be next Friday, starting during lunch and it should be wrapped up by the end of fourth period, so you can all just leave with your parents or guardians. Remember that you will be with your homeroom class for the duration of it. Have a-”

Harrington’s farewell was cut off by the bell, and Peter quickly shoved the sheet into his ratty old book bag, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Ned to finish packing up.

“Dude, what’s got your jimmies all rustled?” His friend laughed as they finally made their way to the door and out into the sea of students. Peter cracked a grin, playfully shoving his friend.

“Ned, you know I don’t like Career Day,” He complained, “Plus, Happy’s picking me up, and I don’t want to piss him off anymore than I have to.”

“You could have just left, you didn’t have to wait on me!” Ned squawked, giving Peter an incredulous look. 

“Yeah, well, you’re my Guy in the Chair, I’m not just gonna ditch you,” He shot back, “Come on, man, you have that little faith in me?” The other boy looked even more indignant than he had previously, and Peter chuckled at his expression. 

Their short conversation was already lightening his mood, as they usually did, and now he remembered he had his semiweekly Workshop visit to look forward to. He could worry about that stupid event later.

Or not.

As the pair rounded the corner, they immediately spotted Flash and his bickering band of ass hats clustered together near the doors. Of course, Peter could hear every word they were saying, and it made him want to punch a Eugene sized hole in the nearest locker. 

“Peter! What are they doing?” Ned hissed, poking his friend’s side where he stood, frozen.

“They, uh, geez, stop it! Flash is just bragging about his dad again.” He whispered back, swatting Ned’s hand away.

“Oh. Think we can get around them?” Ned replied. Peter could only sigh and start walking.

“Probably not.”

As it turns out, Peter was right. As soon as they got within normal human earshot, Flash whirled around, giving the pair one of his famous shit-eating grins.

“Hey Penis, got any plans for next Friday? Oh wait, probably not,” He sneered,”Anyway, as I was telling everyone, my law firm just closed a huge deal, so my Dad said he’d do something extra special for his presentation.” Peter hid his flinch at Flash’s words, and tried to continue walking past, but Ned decided now was the best time to poke the sleeping bear. Though, maybe sleeping moderately-sized Yorkie was a better comparison.

“What do you think your dad would think about you calling it ‘your’ firm? Especially since you haven’t even stepped foot in it.” At Flash’s enraged look, Ned just shrugged.

“What? You literally said at Decathlon practice last week that you kept blowing off intern interviews to focus on your Twitch streaming.” Peter didn’t think he could take it anymore. His spidey-senses were screaming at him, and despite his insistent tugging, Ned was standing his ground. Flash seethed silently in front of them, his friends staring with matching looks of anger at the pair.

“Ned. Let’s. Go.” Peter hissed, glancing at the black SUV waiting outside. Ned seemed to finally get it, as he relaxed and nodded, turning to follow Peter out.

“ Right. Internship. Got it.” He deadpanned, shooting Flash another nasty look.

“You’re still pulling that Stark Intern bull? Are you kidding me?” The teen growled, clearly not done with them. They were so close to the door, so close to freedom, but before he could reach it Peter felt the familiar tingle of danger crescendo into a ripple of “Watch Out!” running through him. Something latched onto the back pocket of his book bag and pulled, but he didn’t let himself fall back fast enough, and the entire flap tore off, spilling his papers and school supplies everywhere. 

He turned, meeting Flash’s shocked face, the other boy’s hand still clutching onto the torn fabric.

“Shit! Let’s get out of here!” One guy in the small crowd shouted, and they all made dust, Flash recovering quickly and flipping Peter a lovely bird as he fled. Which left Ned and Peter to clean up the mess.

“I’m sorry man.” Ned sighed as he knelt down to stack up his friend’s chemistry homework.

“It’s fine, he’s said worse.” Peter lied. Ned shook his head.

“No, I’m sorry for not listening to you when you tried to get me to leave. Especially since you have somewhere to be.” He groaned, setting aside the small stack to start collecting notebooks.

“Seriously, don’t worry about it,” Peter shot his friend a reassuring grin from where he crawled around collecting pencils,”I should’ve backed you up more, honestly. Happy could wait.” They shared a laugh, and soon enough all of the spilled supplies were collected and haphazardly shoved into any available pockets on the book bag, everything else Peter carried himself. 

Ned held the door open and the two stepped out. The second the afternoon sun hit their eyes, Happy gave two impatient honks and rolled his window down to wave at the kid. Peter waved goodbye to Ned and started down the steps, but before he could get too far his friend was calling his name.

“Hey! Peter! Wait a sec,” He called, and Peter turned back around, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

“Yeah dude?” He asked. The larger boy put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a concerned look.

“You sure you’re good? What Flash said really was kind of… more not cool than usual from him.” Ned prompted. Peter glanced away, and then back to the boy as he forced an easy going grin.

“I told you, it’s all good.” This seemed to be a decent enough answer, and the two performed their overly complicated handshake before going their separate ways.

But Ned was right. It was very much not cool, and Peter was still kind of reeling. He had never gone that far before. Honestly, he never thought he would. Was Flash a douche bag? Yes. An ass? Also yes. Even a dick? On his worst days, definitely. But downright cruel was not something he had experienced from the boy before. He could deal with the basic teasing and name-calling, but this… Peter was still thinking about when he climbed into the truck, dropping his ruined bag and papers with a groan. Happy gave him an odd look through the rear view mirror.

“The hell happened to your bag?” He asked, gently steering the vehicle around a minivan. Peter vaguely registered it’s middle-aged occupant screaming about something or other. Damn Karens. 

“Oh, uh, nothing! It’s nothing. Not a big deal, I’m just, y’know, clumsy, and well, y’know.” Peter gave Happy a weak grin and began trying to reorganize the bag’s contents. Happy shot him and the bag in question a disbelieving glance.

“Kid? You alright?” He asked again after a moment. Peter wondered when the grouchy man got the whole ‘concerned adult’ voice down. Probably pretty recently. 

“Peter?” The kid jumped at his name, meeting Happy’s worried eyes, and he realized that he hadn’t even answered the man.

“Sorry, uh, yeah! I’m good!” He squeaked. 

“Well, you tell me if you aren’t, got it?” Happy grunted, and as soon as Peter nodded he turned back to the road. Peter noticed that he didn’t roll the privacy screen back up.

* * *

By the time they had arrived at the Tower, Peter was able to cram most of his belongings into his somewhat functional book bag, though he broke the zipper in the process. He waved goodbye to Happy and hopped out of the truck, dashing over to the garage elevator.

“Hey kid!” Tony grinned, looking up from his phone as the workshop doors opened.

“How was school?” Peter smiled, for real this time, and made his way into the room, hugging his bag to his chest.

“Eh, it was alright.” He said, noticing how his mentor’s brows rose at his words.

“Just alright?” Tony prodded, swiveling on his stool to face his protegee,”You sure about that?” 

“What, I can’t just have a normal, alright day at school?” He huffed.

“Uh, no, because one time you had detention and still told me your day was fantastic because it was Friday. It’s Friday again and you just said alright. So what’s up?” The man needled, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. 

“Well, the-” Before Peter could say anything else, his bag tore all the way open, once again spilling books, pens, and papers everywhere. 

“I take it that’s part of the problem?” Tony quipped, the teen just groaned and started collecting the scattered items. He hopped down to join him, and soon enough they seemed to have gotten it all.

“Before we start working on anything, I’m going to insist that you tell me what’s going on with, _this_ ,” His mentor said, holding up the bag, “and don’t tell me it’s because you were being clumsy, I think we both know clumsy doesn’t cut it.” 

“Alright, fine,” Peter acquiesced, looking anywhere but at Tony, “There’s, uh, there’s this kid who always gives me a hard time, but don’t worry! It’s not bad or anything, just today he grabbed my bag when I tried to walk away, and I guess I didn’t stop in time, and it ripped. So it kind of was because I was clumsy.” He finished. Tony studied him for a moment, brows knitted in concern.

“Pete, you know that isn’t okay, right? Especially if he’s getting physical.” He said seriously. Peter nodded vigorously.

“No, yeah, it’s just, it’s fine,” he jabbered, ignoring Tony’s eye roll when he said fine yet again, “Flash, uh, he’s a jerk, but I deal with those every night. And those jerks have, like, knives.”

“Uh-huh, don’t remind me about the whole you being in constant danger thing. But you shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of thing, this thing being bullying, at school. Especially considering your _extracurricular_ ,” Tony countered, “How long has this been going, on, anyways?”

“Since, like, uh, y’know,” Peter mumbled. His mentored squinted at him from his stool.

“I really hope you’re mumbling right now, kid, because I really don’t wanna have to ask Birdbrain where he gets his hearing aids.” The billionaire sassed. The teen pushed back a smile and shrugged sheepishly.

“Uhm, since seventh grade, or something like that.” Tony scrubbed a hand over his face.

“Geez, underoos. You gotta tell someone when this kinda stuff is going on.”

“I told you. I can deal with it. Plus, I’m, y’know, Spider-Man.” Peter pointed out. His mentor fixed him with his patented “don’t bullshit me” stare.

“Nope. that doesn’t cut it. You gotta promise that if this Flash guy, or hell, anyone else for that matter starts giving you a hard time, you’ll tell someone. Whether that’s me, or your Aunt, or Happy, heck, even a teacher would be better than telling no one.”

“Sure, Mr. Stark.” Peter deadpanned, clearly having zero intention to follow through.

“No, promise me, Parker.” Tony stressed, stepping closer to Peter and waggling his pinkie finger in his face. The kid cracked a real smile and hooked his own finger with his mentor’s.

“Okay, I pinkie promise.” he giggled. This seemed to satisfy Tony, who grinned and clapped his hands together resolutely.

“Well! That’s enough of that. How’s about you show me how far you’ve gotten on that Mediweb formula, and then we can try dissecting that old gauntlet of mine?” He beamed.

“Sir yes sir!” Peter chirped in response, and the pair were soon engrossed in their work, bullies and Career Day forgotten

* * *

It was Saturday evening, and Tony waved goodbye to Peter and his brand new, (and to his chagrin) VERY expensive book bag from the penthouse couch. The kid hopped into the elevator, already chattering away to Happy, who looked more than ready for him to be back in Queens. As tired as he was after their lab day, and now lab nights, he still had actual Stark Industries work to get done. 

The genius trudged into his workshop, mumbling for FRIDAY to start his coffee. He was gonna be up for a while. As the familiar aroma began to waft through the room, Tony paced absentmindedly around the many tables and shelves, turning over the latest round of project proposals in his mind. R&D’s interns certainly put out a few bangers this time, as his own intern would say. As many times as he claimed to hate doing ‘real’ work, he also truly did enjoy reviewing the blueprints and schematics of all these new ideas. It was refreshing, in a way.  


Tony continued to pace, lost in thought and only vaguely paying attention to his surroundings. It started to blur together.

Bench. Stool. Bench. Shelf. Table. Stool.

Bench. Stool. Bench. Shelf. Table. Stool.

Bench. Stool. Bench. Shelf. Table. Paper. Stool.

Bench. Stool. Bench. Shelf. Table. Paper. Stool.

Wait, paper?

The quiet ding of the coffee maker pulled him right out of his thoughts. Squinting, he squatted on the tile floor and grabbed the corner of the yellow slip of paper. He wasn’t sure how it made its way under the table, but it must’ve dislodged itself at some point during his rounds. The billionaire stood, scanning through the information on the sheet as he walked over to his coffee. His face split into a huge grin as soon as he finished.

“FRI, be a dear and call Ms. Parker, would you?” He asked, taking a swig from the now full coffee pot. Ow. too hot.

“What do you want, Tony.” The woman deadpanned, sounding absolutely exhausted.

“May, you wouldn’t happen to be doing anything for Midtown’s Career Day, would you?”


	2. Not Exactly a Crackhead Uncle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if I showed up at your school for Career Day to act as your parental figure😳😳... haha 🤣jk jk....unless?😗😗

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh wow, thank you all so much for the feedback! I hope I live up to all your expectations lmao

Peter woke up Friday morning feeling great, and he hated it. He’d been hoping for a last second mystery illness to leave him bedridden for at least a few hours. Long enough to convince his Aunt that it was pointless to send him at all. Heck, he purposefully chose the rather sketchy tuna rice bowl when they got takeout last night. Other than some mild discomfort around midnight, he just felt good.

He tried faking it to May to no avail. She simply whacked him with her spatula and reminded him that he was supposed to get his study guide for his English finals today. Damn, she was right about that, but then again May always was, and he should’ve known that she would see right through his fib anyway.

“Come on, May, you know I hate Career Days.” he whined. His Aunt just smiled and continued shoveling slightly smoking pancakes onto two plates.

“Yes, and you know about our no school, no Spider-Man agreement,” She retorted, “ Which includes Tower sleepovers.”

“Yeah, but, May-” Peter began, but May cut him off.

“No but’s, Peter. If you want to stay home, you can call Tony and tell him why you’re cancelling.” Peter grumbled his reluctant agreement, and pouted halfheartedly through breakfast. He definitely didn’t want to give up lab time. Not even for Career Day.

“Okay, Bye Aunt May!” He exclaimed, shoving the last of the sorta burnt pancakes in his mouth and giving her a peck on the cheek.

“Bleh, gross,” she laughed, shoving her nephew towards the door, “I’ll see you Saturday, try and have fun, alright?”

“We’ll see. I larb you!” Peter said, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

“I larb you too Peter! And hey, maybe it won’t be as bad as you think!” May called after him as he disappeared down the hall.

* * *

When Peter pushed open the doors to Midtown High, he immediately winced at the sheer volume of noise. Of course, the long cinder block halls were usually pretty noisy, but the excitement of the day seemed to have everyone trying to yell over each other. Oh, what a horrible day to have superhuman hearing. The teen just grit his teeth and met up with Ned at his locker, who handed a pair of headphones to his grateful friend. 

The rest of the day passed horribly slow. His Spanish teacher in first period was out, so they had a sub who did not care about the subject one way or another, and left them to do ‘silent work’. Which meant Peter spent an hour and a half trying to ignore Flash’s spitballs and quiet taunts. Which he didn’t know he could hear, of course.

Second period English was marginally better, in that Flash wasn’t there. Usually he had MJ to talk to, but she was _actually_ out sick. Peter spent the time quietly working on the hefty short answer study packet his teacher handed out and pointedly not looking at the clock as the hands ticked their way closer to lunch.

Assembly hour was the worst. Assembly hour was an hour designated for assemblies, should the school decide to have one, but otherwise was a time for any clubs or teams in the school to have some extra time. Unless there was an assembly. In that case, there would be an assembly.

Which meant Peter had Decathlon. That was normally a good thing, but with MJ out and Harrington as excited about Career Day as his students, he had really no one to protect him from Flash. Ned could try, but he was just as much a target as Peter. Not to mention the fact that Peter’s fancy new backpack seemed to bring up a few extra jealous jibes from the boy every now and then.

Finally, lunch. Peter sat miserably next to Ned, poking halfheartedly at the corn on his plate. He was nervous as hell, and he didn’t even know why, he had already decided he would just hide in the bathrooms again. But it was ruining his lunch. The square pizza, normally a High School delicacy, tasted like sand in his mouth.

“Peter, bro, you gotta eat.” Ned urged, momentarily setting down the Star Wars speculations article they had been reading.

“What are you, my mom?” Peter laughed at his friend’s glare.

“No, but I am your super cool and amazing friend who knows if you don’t eat you will pass out and hit your head or something.” He admonished.

“Alright, alright, I’ll eat,” Peter relented, shoving most of the pizza in his mouth to prove it. “Sheee? Ahm Eabing.” He almost choked when Ned punched him in the arm.

“Attention Midtown Students,” A voice buzzing with static said over the intercom, “We will now be transitioning into our Career Day event. Please make your way calmly and quietly to your homeroom classes so we can begin.” 

Of course, the transition was neither calm or quiet. Peter and Ned shuffled to Mr. Harrington’s room, along with a good chunk of the Sophomore Decathlon team and a few of his other peers. Mr. Harrington had arranged the desks into pairs, so students could sit by their parents, if they had them coming in. Peter quickly took a seat in the far back, and Ned quickly occupied the space beside him, just as their teacher began his announcements.

“Okay everyone, please just quiet down for a moment so I can, oh boy,” He muttered, barely heard over the excited chatter of his class, “Look, in a moment they will begin announcing classes, and then any students with a visitor can run, er, walk calmly down to the office and retrieve them. Capisce?”

As Principal Morita began announcing classes over the intercom, Peter laid his head down on his desk and did his best to zone out. He stared languidly out the large row of windows at the line of cars slowly filling the parking lot. Eventually, his class was called and most of his peers stood, rushing to get out the door.

“Okay, make sure you are all walking down there, I don’t want Mr. Morita knocking on my door later!” Mr. Harrington tried to holler over the growing din. Ned shot Peter a sympathetic look before he joined the crowd to meet his mom at the office.

“You good dude?” He asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, man, I’m fine.” Peter waved him off, determined to continue spacing out.

Only a few minutes later, he was once again pulled from his thoughts by the growing sound of footsteps and chattering of his classmates returning. They filed into the room, now trailed by their parents and relatives. Ned returned to his seat, followed by Mrs. Leeds, who gave Peter a quick hug before joining her son. He gave her a small smile in return, and a reassuring thumbs up to Ned to stave off his anxious glances.

This time when Mr. Harrington called the room to order, the kids actually listened. Though this was probably due to the shushing parental presence.

“Listen up everybody! I’m about to give you all the information on this year’s Career Day, but first I’d like to say thank you to all the people who gave up their valuable time to come in and speak with us,” a smattering of applause sprung up at that, but quickly died back down,” Alright, now here’s how we’re going to be doing this, presenters will be based on the order in this stack of sheets, so-” Before he could finish, the classroom door creaked open.

“Sorry I’m late, Is this Mr. Harrington’s room?” Peter’s head shot up at the familiar voice.

“Uh, yes, it is, what do you need?” Mr Harrington replied, eyeing the man suspiciously. He wore a faded MIT sweatshirt with the hoodie pulled up over a baseball cap and sunglasses, in one hand he carried a fancy silver briefcase, and the other a paper bag.

“Career day. I’m here to present.” The man said, scanning the room from behind the dark shades. When he spotted Peter he grinned quite horribly.

“What student are you here with? I believe everyone is accounted for already.” Harrington asked.

“Peter Parker.” To his credit, Mr. Harrington did a good job of hiding his shock. He grabbed the stack of papers and leafed through them before looking back up at the visitor.

“I’m sorry, Mr….?” He hesitated.

“Tony,” Tony replied, “Call me Tony.”

“I’m sorry, Tony, but I don’t seem to have any sign up sheet from Peter.” Tony nodded, and gestured towards the hallway with his head.

“Yeah, Pete forgot to give it to me, but i got it all sorted out down at the office. It’s why I’m late.” He replied. Harrington looked dubiously over at Peter, who nodded wearily before turning back to Tony.

“Alright, well if you could just take a seat over by Peter, and I will continue to give instructions on how this is going to work.”

Tony dropped into the seat next to Peter, ruffling his hair in greeting.

“Hey, kid, happy to see me?” He grinned. Peter swatted his hands away, wrinkling his nose at his mentor’s quiet chuckles.

“Mr. Stark! What are you doing here?” he hissed, ignoring Ned’s frantic hand signals.

“Eh-eh-eh, you heard me a second ago, it’s Tony,” the billionaire clucked, wagging an authoritative finger in Peter’s face, “And what? I can’t come and visit my favorite intern at school?”

“Uh, no, I don’t think that’s something normal bosses do, Mr. Stark, er, Tony. But also it’s Career Day! How did you even find out about it?” Peter gasps,”Was it May?” Tony rolled his eyes.

“No, May didn’t betray you. You did it yourself, actually. I found the sheet on the floor in my lab after you left.” He replied, looking far more smug than he should’ve.

“Still doesn’t explain why you’re here.” Peter groaned, putting his head back down. 

“Oh, no real reason,” Tony purred, “I just figured I’d surprise you, make you look a little cooler, meet all those little friends you told me about.”

“This is because of the book bag thing isn’t it.” Peter deadpanned.

“Nooooo… Though I do have a gauntlet if you want me to ‘fear-factor’ anybody.” His mentor grinned.

“What- no! I told you I have this all under control!” The teen growled, glaring.

“Okay, fine, fine,” Tony said, putting his hands up in mock surrender, “Have you eaten lunch? You’re always pissy when you haven’t eaten.”

“Uh, yeah, I ate lunch.” Peter replied.

“Eh, you’re probably hungry anyways. Here, I picked something up on the way over.” Tony set the paper bag on the table. Peter almost protested further, but he really was hungry.

“Thanks, uh, Tony.”

Reaching in the bag, he found a familiar Styrofoam take-out box. The smell of fresh-toasted bread was making his mouth water.

“When did you have time to go by Delmar’s?” He wondered aloud.

“Are you really questioning me on that?” Tony laughed, snatching a chip from the box. Peter didn’t answer, instead choosing to smile and take a bite of the sandwich. Amazing as usual.

His teacher had finished his speech, and as far as Peter could tell, they would be going last. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

The first presenter was Abe’s mom, who gave a short but fascinating talk about architecture, and how blueprints translated to the finished product. Tony scoffed when Peter clapped along with everyone at the end.

“Come on, Pete, you’re pretty much already an expert at that.”

“Be nice!” Peter shot back. As the next adult began to set up their speech, Peter felt a jolt as his senses alerted him of an object flying towards him. Flinching, he let the weaponized pencil whack him in the side of the head, and clatter to the floor, much to Tony’s surprise. He whipped his head around the man, glaring in the direction the projectile came from, receiving a matching glare from Ned in return. His friend mouthed ‘check your phone’, and Peter swiping the buzzing device from his bag.

He began reading through the numerous messages left by Ned, most in all caps.

* * *

**GuyinTheChair:** Dude

**GuyinTheChair:** who is that

**GuyinTheChair:** WAIT

**GuyinTheChair** : PETER

**GuyinTheChair:** PETER DO NOT TELL ME THAT TONY STARK IS HERE FOR OUR CAREER DAY

**GuyinTheChair:** actually do tell me BECAUSE I NEED TO KNOW

**GuyinTheChair:** USFYATFSYSFXFX

**GuyinTheChair:** wait that was a horrible keysmash

**GuyinTheChair:** ADAASFGAFSHGASDDA

**GuyinTheChair:** that's better

* * *

Peter grinned at the screen.

* * *

**PeterParkour:** Yeah Mr Stark is here

**PeterParkour:** idk why or how but he is

**GuyinTheChair** : AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

**PeterParkour** : Bruh

**PeterParkour:** also you almost hit him with that pencil

**GuyinTheChair** : ass

* * *

Normally, being on your phone in Mr. Harrington’s classes was an offense punishable by confiscation, or detention for repeat offenders, but the teacher seemed too invested in Cindy’s mom’s power point about snake intestinal tracts to care. But just as he read the last text, Peter’s phone was yanked right out of his hands.

“Hey!” he squawked as his mentor dangled the device away from him.

“Nope, you’re still at school kid, you gotta pay attention.” He smirked, pocketing his protege’s phone. And then immediately pulling out his own.

“What? You can’t preach to me about paying attention and then not do it either!” Peter whined. Tony raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, I’m the adult here. I get to decide whether I want to be responsible or not. Now can it or you’re grounded.” Peter could hear Ned stifling his laughter from across the aisle.

The next couple of presentations went by quickly. Especially with Tony there making snarky quips about everything that about had Peter bursting at the seams with suppressed giggles.

Betty’s older brother, a volunteer firefighter, came in with an interesting lecture about types of structure fires, and Jason’s dad, a chemist, even jumped in to explain how different chemical reactions affected the fire itself.

“He literally just gave a bunch of teenagers a ‘how to get away with arson’ instructional.”

Sally’s dad talked about his career in stunt work, and showed a couple clips from movies that he was in. Before he finished he gave out the card of the training studio he worked with, to the delight of the class.

“As if you need any more encouragement, kid. You’re the reason I have grey hairs.”

C.J’s mom talked about her time at Oscorp, and the headway they were making in the neurology and restoration of function in damaged limbs. Her slideshow was graphic but informative, and she handed out pamphlets about Oscorp’s internship program.

“Ooh, maybe I’ll get one of those.”

“Don’t even joke about that, Pete.”

Jason’s dad went last and took the longest. The lecture on the creation of new chemicals and the process of finding out how they might react to things was accompanied by a series of little experiments. Sure, they weren’t exactly anything new, this was a STEM school after all, but the class still oohed and ahhed when he smashed the nitrogen flower on the desk.

“I had a buddy in college who froze most of his hand off doing that.”

“Sick. I want to drink it.”

“Peter, no.”

As the man began to clean up the scattered shards of petals, Mr. Harrington announced a short break before they got back to the last four presentations. Peter excused himself to the bathroom, along with a few other peers, leaving Tony to sit awkwardly as Ned’s stare bored holes into his head.

The hallways were unusually quiet as he made his way back, though if he concentrated just a bit, he could hear the quiet conversations from under the doors. It was a far cry from the bustling, noisy Midtown High Peter had come to know and love, but it was also kind of nice. It gave him a moment to think about how surprisingly not horrible he felt, and despite how reluctant he was originally, how grateful he was for Tony being there. He should probably thank him.

As he rounded the corner, another pair of footsteps coming his way caught his attention.

“Hey, Penis!”

Oh, great. Just what he needed. 

Peter lowered his head, keeping his eyes resolutely on the tiles. Maybe if he thought really hard he’d turn invisible.

“Hey! Who the hell is that guy you brought in, he straight up looks homeless,” Flash jeered, narrowing his eyes when Peter didn’t respond, “ Like I knew you were poor, but I didn’t think it was that bad. Or are you even related to him?” Peter bit his lip and walked a little faster, but his tormentor was still just ahead of him. And he seemed to take his silence as a yes.

“Are you really enough of an attention whore to pay some crackhead from the street to pretend to be your uncle?” Flash was a few feet away, now. He stopped for just a second, fists shaking at his sides. The other boy stopped as well, daring him to do something, anything at all. Peter took a deep breath, unclenched his fists and kept walking, saying nothing at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! next chapter should be up tomorrow, and I might be updating that old 5+1 with art so keep an eye out for that.  
> Anyway remember to stay safe, support BLM and donate/sign petitions when you can, my instagram @murdock_schmurdock has some good links in the bio if you would like to :)


	3. Trial Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Tony's turn, and he is not gonna let Peter off easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is really long and doesn't end very smoothly, because I simply could not find a good place to split it. BUT I will post the next chapter tonight so keep an eye out :)  
> Also the indentation changes halfway through but I couldn't fix it so just know I am aware.

When he walked back into class and sat besides Tony, his mentor already looked worried, despite the convincing grin plastered on his face. Well, maybe not all that convincing.  


“You good underoos?” He asked. 

“Yeah. I’m fine.” Peter nodded. Tony seemed unconvinced.

“Uh, no you’re not.” He frowned, grabbing the kid’s head in his hands and tilting it around as if he would somehow find the answer.

“I-what-dude, stop,” Peter whined, pushing the billionaire’s hands away and flushing at the oddly parental gesture, “How do you know, anyway?”

“I think I know my best intern well enough by now to know if something’s bothering him,” Tony sniffed, “Also, Ted-”

“It’s Ned.” The boy in question piped up from his desk.

“Yeah, Ted, Ned, same thing, anyway he told me that the kid who’s been giving you a hard time got up and followed you out, and then you came back looking like someone kicked a dog. So spill it.” He finished. Peter shot a halfhearted glare at his friend.

“What? Did you really expect me to lie to Iron Man?” Ned scoffed.

“Uh, yeah, kinda,” Peter replied, “I mean, you technically did once already, so.”

“Not to his face!” the boy spluttered, turning almost as red as Peter when Tony gave him a look.

By the time the rest of the students returned, the energy in the room was back to restless excitement. Mr Harrington called for everyone’s attention, and they jumped right back into it.

Mrs. Leeds was up first. She told the story of how she went from working as an ER nurse in Queens, to owning her own Bakery. The literal cherry on top was the basket of homemade cookies she brought in, and handed out to everyone. Ned and Peter, of course, had heard the story and eaten the cookies innumerable times before, but they still cheered along with their classmates because damn, there was a reason her bakery was such a success.

Peter didn’t pay much attention to the next one, mostly because he was too busy explaining to Tony how he and Ned met because his Aunt and Ned’s mom worked in the same ER together for a few years. 

Then Flash’s dad was up. Mr. Thompson was an intimidating man from the bones out. He was tall, broad, with cold eyes and a bushy mustache that put Ron Swanson to shame. Flash himself stood proudly beside him as he droned on about the legalities and idiosyncrasies of business court. He didn’t even have visuals for his presentation. The only interesting thing was the salary, but he emphasized how unlikely it was that someone would make that much. 

Apparently, Mr. Thompson’s idea of doing something special was handing out business cards with a pin and some cheap candy. When they sat down there were a few muffled claps, not much more. Peter was pretty sure Abe had fallen asleep.

Flash shot Peter a triumphant look as he sat down, which Tony apparently noticed, as the boy felt him straighten in his seat beside him. 

“Wish me luck, bud.” He smirked, grabbing the briefcase and standing as Mr. Harrington began his introduction.

“Alright everyone, for our last presentation, we have Mr Tony, uh, actually, I never got your last name?” The billionaire whipped his hat off and plonked it on Peters head, unzipping his hoodie as he walked to the front of the room to once again shake the teachers hand. 

“Stark. Tony Stark.” He grinned, turning to the dumbstruck room of parents and students. 

For a moment, no one said anything. Then all at once it all broke into chaos. 

“Whoah!”

“Are you kidding me? Parker really did know him?”

“Do they actually take high school interns then?”

Mr Harrington tried to shout over the pandemonium, but unfortunately no one paid him any heed. Tony raised his arms and a hush immediately descended on the crowd. He set the thick briefcase on the table in the front of the room, and began shrugging off the hoodie. Of course, he was wearing a graphic tee under a blazer that was only slightly wrinkled. The T-Shirt had the iconic Iron Man helmet emblazoned above the words "#1 BOSS".  


“Hello everyone, I’d introduce myself but, let’s face it, you all know who I am,” he got a couple laughs out of that, “I’m mostly known for my multi-billion dollar tech conglomerate, Stark Industries, but also for a few other, smaller things, like, oh, The Avengers. Iron Man. Yeah, that’s me, don’t act so surprised.” The class listened in rapt attention, and Peter couldn’t help but smile. Tony leaned casually on the table, exuding all the confidence a billionaire in a high school classroom could.

“I attended MIT at fifteen, graduated with my masters in electrical engineering at seventeen, and chemical engineering at nineteen. I also have doctorates in engineering physics and artificial intelligence,” he paused, then turned towards Peter’s seat, “so if you’re going to insist on not calling me Tony, you could at least call me  _ Dr _ . Mr. Stark, Pete.” Peter froze at his name, meeting the eyes of all his classmates as they turned to stare at him. Then he saw his Mentors mischievous grin, and he sat up a bit straighter.

“Hey, you just told me to call you that like thirty minutes ago!” He shot back, “and I’ve been pretty consistent since then.”

“Uh, no, I asked you last week and you spilled your hot chocolate on my suit!” Tony retorted. Peter flushed and leaned back in his seat, spluttering.

His classmates giggled quietly at their bickering, but despite his red face Peter found he didn’t mind all that much. Especially when he saw Flash’s expression.

“Alright, I’ll be needing a volunteer for the actual presenting bit,’ Tony announced, grinning at the sea of eager hands that shot up.

“Eenie, Meenie, Minnie…” his grin widened into a conspiratory smile.

“Moe.” He finished, pointing directly at one Flash Thompson. But when he made no move to join him at the front,Tony frowned.

“Well? Aren’t you coming?” He prompted. Flash looked at his father in a panic, who didn’t even glance up from his phone as he gestured for him to go. The boy stood and shuffled forward, coming to stand meekly by the genius, who extended his hand.

“And you are?”

“Uh, Flash. Thompson.” He gulped.

“Okay, Flash, why don’t you go ahead and open that case for me.’ Tony smirked. The boy nodded shakily and thumbed the clasp, jolting back with a gasp when it spoke.

“Access Denied. Unauthorized Biosignature Detected.”

“Oh man, forgot about that,” Tony sighed, not sounding particularly like he forgot at all, “you can go ahead and sit down, uh, Dash.” Flash returned to his seat swiftly and silently. Tony quickly launched into the next part of his speech.

“Now, that wasn’t planned, but it does lead nicely into my next topic; Biometrics and Artificial Intelligence. Can anyone tell me what Biometrics are?” He asked, prompting a return of the hands. He pointed at random.

“Biometrics are just measurements of different features, on a person, right?” Abe posited. 

“Correct! They are specifically used for automated recognition by Artificial Intelligence, and advanced AIs can identify a person with only a few key points. Which is very scary, so it’s probably a good thing I’m the only person who has figured that out. Thank you for your answer, but I will, however, be needing a new assistant.” The man didn’t even pretend to choose from the many frantically waving hands, his eyes immediately locked onto his protege.

“Peter! Get up here! Tony hollered, grinning widely as the kid huffed and joined him by the front table, “You already know how this works, right?”

“Did you really drag me up here to make me open a suitcase that you made?”

“Why yes, yes I did,” Tony replied smugly, “Plus I need someone to do the physical demonstrations while I sound smart.” Peter rolled his eyes good-naturedly and grabbed the case.

“As you all can tell, that is no ordinary briefcase. It has a built in Biometric security system that directly connects to my primary AI, so it’s a fairly secure way to transport things like government documents.” Tony nodded to Peter, who quickly flipped the latch.

“Access Granted. User: Peter Parker, Clearance Level: Iron.” FRIDAY’S voice announced. Peter glanced up at his awed classmates, and was more than a little happy to see how Flash’s face had blanched.

“So because Peter’s Biosignature is programmed into FRIDAY, I can give him access to the case. As my personal intern, he also has access to any Stark Industries or FRIDAY equipped building, including Stark Tower and the Avengers Compound. Though I can change that any time.” Tony continued, giving Peter a mischievous look.

“Is that a threat, Mr. Stark?” The teen challenged.

“It will be if you keep that ‘Mr. Stark’ business up.” His mentor replied coolly.

“Okay, is that a threat, Anthony?” Peter smirked. Tony narrowed his eyes and flicked him on the forehead.

“Ew, no, never do that again, brat,” He gagged,”Now do me a favor and pull out the watch.”

Opening the case fully, Peter was able to actually see what Tony had up his sleeve. A slim, fancy watch sat in a glass display set into the foam interior. It was accompanied by a new StarkPhone, a bundle of business card shaped slips wrapped in twine, and something that looked eerily similar to one of his web shooters. That was probably not for this presentation, right? Ignoring that for now, he pulled the black and gold watch from its case, and at his mentor’s prompting, slipped it on his own wrist.

“First of all, I’m going to be showing,or rather letting Peter show you guys something that won’t be in stores anytime soon,’ Tony grinned, as the kid held his arm up to display the device, “Apart from being a very nice watch, it is also equipped with some extra features. It’s got an LED screen, FRIDAY integration, Biometrics of course, holographic capabilities, and a few others. But there’s one feature that keeps it a regular part of my wardrobe, and an invaluable piece of equipment. Kid?” 

On his signal, Peter pressed a small button and typed in a code, and extended his arm as a simple Iron Man gauntlet quickly formed over his hand. Tony smiled proudly as the students and parents gasped. The teen flexed the metal fingers and rotated his hand around, showing off the gently glowing repulsor on the palm.

“That came out of nowhere!” Abe burst, Sally’s hold on his shirt the only thing keeping him from falling forward from his chair.

“Wow, I’ve seen videos of some of his stuff, but in person it’s just… wow! How does that work?” Cindy chimed in.

“Is no one gonna talk about how Peter could easily kill all of us right now?” Betty added, “Unrelated, but have I ever said how cool and smart you are, Peter?” The teen in question laughed and lowered the gauntlet.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t worry too much about that, he’s like the sweetest kid I’ve ever met. Basically a puppy.” Tony shrugged, earning a glare from Peter.

“Tony.” He whined, but the man just ruffled his hair again.

“Oh,can it.You know it’s true. And to answer your question, it’s one of my earlier endeavors with nanotech.”

“So basically tiny robots!” Ned yelled from the back of the room.

“Yep! Thank you, Ted,’ Tony yelled back, “My nanobots allow me to fit a lot more technology into a much smaller space, and in some cases even change parts of it at will. This of course means it’s a lot simpler, and lightweight, but it certainly still packs a punch. I’ve been experimenting around with it for a little while, and I’m even about to debut a new suit made entirely out of nanotech.”

After that, Peter put the watch gauntlet away and pulled out the StarkPhone. He handed it off for the class to pass around, while Tony explained how Stark Industries Research and Development department worked, and his own role in the process. Though it might not have been as captivating as the gauntlet, the class still listened with rapt attention as he spoke. That’s what you get talking about nerd stuff in a nerd school, apparently. 

Just as Peter thought he was wrapping up, Tony handed back the phone and gave him a grin.

“One more thing before I finish here, I would like to present to you all a future SI endeavor, created entirely by none other than Peter Parker himself.”

So that’s why the prototype Mediweb shooters were in there.

“Tony!” he hissed, “what are you doing?”

“Calm down, Pete, look at it as a practice run for when you present it to The Board.” Tony reasoned. Peter had to do a double take.

“The Board? What do you mean, present to the Board? As in the Board of Directors? I-I didn’t think that, I thought you were, you were going to-” He stammered out, meeting Tony’s incredulous look with his own.

“Kid, I’m not gonna take credit for something you did. Just relax, you know this project cover to cover, hell, we even practiced presenting it. You got this.” He encouraged, placing a steady hand on his protege’s shoulder. Peter gave him a grateful nod and inhaled shakily, wincing as the cold metal of the webshooter formed to his arm. It was both oddly familiar, and distinctly alien.

“O-okay, so, so everyone knows Spider-Man, right? He’s uh, he’s great and he’s pretty close with Tony, so we work on upgrades and repairs to his suit a lot. Once he got covered in his own webs, which took forever to clean since someone didn’t help, but it also got me thinking about what else they could be used for.” At first Peter was barely stammering through it, but he quickly slipped back into the rhythm and found himself talking louder and more confidently.

He covered the uh, slightly warped process of how he created synthetic spider silk, the basic chemical components of the formula, and his plans for its use in emergency wound care. By the time he had finished, he could tell his audience was itching for a demonstration.

“So, Mediwebs differ from Spider-Man’s in both tensile strength and strand thickness, so application would have to be more accurate.” Peter explained, pushing two fingers down on the middle button, but instead of a web shooting from the device, the nanotech extended up his pointer finger, acting as a large syringe. He pressed again, and a single thin strand shot from the barrel and stuck to Betty’s desk. She twirled it around her finger, examining the shimmery string in wonder.

“In conclusion, implementing Mediwebs in large cities, hospitals, and areas of conflict throughout the world could lead to a significant drop in transfer of blood borne diseases and in deaths related to blood loss.” He finished, snapping off the webshooter and placing it carefully back into the case.

He wasn’t expecting the room to break out into applause, and for Tony to sling an arm across his shoulders, pulling him into his side with a gentle shake.

“You did good, kid.” Tony murmured, grinning proudly down at Peter. ``

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you click on the picture and select view image you'll be able to see it lmao. alternatively, I'll have it on my instagram, @murdock_schmurdock. I know it's not ideal but I tried 0-0  
> Thank you for reading, let me know what you think in the comments if you can spare some thoughts, and stay safe out there!  
> 


	4. Flash Has a Bad Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what the chapter title says

After a moment, the racket died back down, and Tony released his kid, reaching over to grab something from the case.

“I have one last thing for you all before we move on to questions. I have time for that, right?” He asked, shooting a quizzical look to where Mr. Harrington sat behind his desk.

“You have about fifteen minutes, Mr. Stark.” The man sighed.

“Perfect!” Tony exclaimed, clapping his hands together, “I know it isn’t exactly a lollipop, but I do have some twenty five dollar credits to the gift shop at the Stark Industries Museum, located in Stark Tower. Now, admittedly, admission isn’t free but it’s also only two bucks, and all proceeds go to the Maria Stark Foundation, so I figured it would be fine.”

A new chorus of cheers broke out at the mention of free stuff, and Tony passed the bundle of cards off to Jason to hand out.

“Question time?” Tony prompted, noticing his kid trying to slip away in the midst of the commotion.

“Uh, nope, you’re stuck up here with me, punk.” he chided, grabbing Peter by the shoulder and pulling him back to his side. Peter just rolled his eyes. Then the questions began.

“Can we see the Arc Reactor?”

“I actually had that removed a few years ago. It’s pretty much just a weird dent now.” Tony explained. The follow-up was quick.

“Can we see the scar?”

At this, Peter snorted a laugh and Tony smirked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I’m flattered, but it’s probably not a good idea for me to take my shirt off. In a High School. During class.” Peter could practically read the headlines.

“Did becoming Iron Man affect your involvement at Stark Industries?”

“Actually, yes,” Tony confessed, “it’s why I gave position of CEO to Ms. Potts, who is far more competent than I am.”

“So you don’t own the company/”

“No, yeah, I do, I still own SI and I’m the head of R&D. I’m just not a CEO.’ He shrugged.

“Are you on good terms with the other Avengers?”

“We are on terms, for sure,’ Tony hesitated, “Uh, next question.’

“Can we see the Iron Man suit?”

“Well, I do have the housing unit on me,” He mused, glancing over at Mr. Harrington, “Maybe afterwards, if your teacher is fine with it.” Harrington looked up at the mention of his name, and tapped a pencil on his chin thoughtfully.

“I should probably say no, considering that would count as a weapon on school, property,”He sighed, “ but I’m just as curious as the rest of you, so I’ll allow it, provided you don’t break anything.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Tony replied.

He answered a few more questions before Mr. Harrington announced the five minute mark.

“I guess I’ll take one more.”

Peter was kind of glad. His feet hurt.

“How’d Parker end up as your intern?” Flash spat. He seemed to have mostly gotten over his previous shock, and now his eyes burned with resentment. Peter gulped, unsure of where this was going as Tony raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, why him? He’s an average student at best, maybe a little smart, but he had like a solid two months of detention last year,” Flash was really going for it now, his voice rising a little every second, “he can’t play sports, he only talks about nerd stuff, I just don’t get it! What the hell would someone like you even see in lame ass Penis Parker?!”

Even Flash’s stone faced father seemed shocked by his outburst. Tony was the first to break the silence.

“Excuse me?” He growled, glaring daggers into Flash’s skull, “ _EXCUSE_ me?” WHAT did you just call him?” Flash seemed to come to his senses, and sank back down into his chair.

“He, uh, called him Penis.” Ned piped up. Peter stared at his mentor, who looked ready to summon the suit and turn Flash into red mist right then and there.You could tell his tormentor seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“Tony, please don’t do anything, it-it’s fine, seriously, it’s just a word, it doesn’t even matter to me anymore, I-” Peter pleaded, but Tony cut him off.

“No, bud, it sure as hell isn’t fine, so hush while I sort this out.” he chastised, then turned back to the cowering bully.

“Oh, I’ll tell you what, Flash,” Tony snarled, “ I saw a kid going out and doing extraordinary things. I saw a kid with a brilliant mind helping people just because he could. And then I met Peter Parker, and I found a kid with not only that brilliant mind, but just about the kindest heart I’ve ever seen. I found a kid who used his gifts to help people, even at great personal cost, who is so selfless it gives me headaches. Selfless enough to protect the ass hat who’s been harassing him since Middle School. And I knew after I met him, that that was the kind of genius, the kind of person the world needed. And I knew I wanted to give him the leg-up he needs to change the world. Because he will, and I’m not gonna let some third-rate High School bully make him think any lesser of himself for it.” He finished, towering over the boy hunched in his seat, shrinking under the weight of Tony’s words.

“I-I just, I, uh,” he whimpered, but the billionaire interrupted.

“I don’t want to hear it. Just stay away from my kid, or I’ll make sure your life is a living hell.” He seethed. Mr. Thompson decided this was a good time to leave, and dragged a horrified Flash from the room, muttering false apologies to Stark until they had passed him. Peter definitely didn’t miss that Tony called him ‘his kid’. He hoped his face wasn’t as red as it felt.

“I’m pretty sure I hired him for my last merger. Don’t think I will again.” Tony deadpanned breaking the fragile silence that had settled over the room. There was some nervous laughter in response, but the class quickly went back to chattering and asking to see the suit.

“Alright, Pete, you can go and sit down if you want.” Tony said, glancing at the kid with a concerned look in his eye.

“Actually, if it’s okay with you, I can stay up here for a little longer… I haven’t seen a test run of the full suit yet anyway.” Peter replied. His mentor grinned and clapped him on the shoulder.

“You don’t have to make excuses to hang out with me, you know that, right?” He laughed.

“It wasn’t an excuse,” Peter mumbled, rolling his eyes,” I really haven’t.”

With only two minutes left until dismissal, the class was gradually growing more restless. Peter stepped away from Tony’s side as his mentor gave him a wink and tapped the new arc reactor.

Immediately, swarms of the nanobots surged out, veins of silvery metal branching out from the glowing device and covering his body in the blink of an eye. Just as quick, the mass solidified into identifiable parts of the suit. His head was engulfed, and the glowing eyes of the iconic face plate flickered to life. Soon, the brand new Mark XLVII was standing in the middle of Roger Harrington’s chemistry classroom.

The various miniature reactors pulsed gently, the red and gold metal shimmering under the fluorescent lighting. It was pretty damn impressive, and Peter was surprised to see the audience’s jaws hit the floor. The face plate dissolved back into the suit and Tony smirked, raising his arms in a grand gesture.

“Pictures?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading this chapter!  
> Let me know what you think if you'd like, I basically live off of feedback haha  
> My instagram is @murdock_schmurdock!  
> [insta link](https://www.instagram.com/murdock_schmurdock/)


	5. Zaxby's Complete Nibbler Meal with Crinkle Fries and Original Zax Sauce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe Career Days aren't so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I've literally never heard any mention of Zaxby's in any kind of media ever, but whenever I go on trips, I see them everywhere. Am I hallucinating? Is it even real? Man I want a House Zalad rn

Not too much later, Mr. Harrington was dismissing them, reminding everyone that their mandatory report on a presenter was due next Wednesday. Peter and Ned were strolling down the hall, chattering excitedly , with Tony and Mrs. Leeds close behind. Most of the school was already outside when they reached the doors. The teens performed their secret handshake, to Tony’s amusement, and Peter quickly hugged Mrs.Leeds before they parted.

“What, I don’t get a hug?” Tony scoffed. 

Ned looked horrified.

Peter didn’t think he’d ever seen a more awkward hug.

As his friend made his way back to his car, Peter scanned the pick up line and didn’t see any trace of Happy’s black SUV.

“Hey, where’s Happy?” He wondered, turning to his mentor and noticing his signature look, “and for that matter, why didn’t you put your weird disguise back on?”

“Uh, it wasn’t weird, first of all,” He replied disdainfully, gesturing to the sweatshirt over his arm and hat still on Peter’s head,”And second of all, I figured disguises would be pretty pointless after this.” Before Peter could process the rather ominous statement, the billionaire produced a nondescript key fob from his pocket, and pressed his thumb to it.

An engine roared to life in the distance, and a neon blue Audi came rolling around the corner, pulling right up into an empty spot.

“Wh-whoah, Mr. Stark.” Peter breathed.

“So we’re back to Mr. Stark now?”

“No, no! I just, Tony, well, ugh.” The kid mumbled, pinching his nose in frustration.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, you don’t have to call me anything you aren’t comfortable with.’ The man said quickly, placing a reassuring hand on th teen’s shoulder.

“No, it’s not that, I just,” Peter groaned, running a hand through his hair,” I want to, I just gotta get used to it, is all.” Tony nodded.

“Don’t sweat it underoos. Now do you wanna take this baby out or what?” Tony crowed, and Peter raced to the passenger door, bouncing on his heels eagerly and rambling away about the car. He gave his mentor a huge smile as he sauntered over.

“You know you parked in an Administrator spot, right?” He teased, sliding into the sleek leather seats.

“They can bill me.” Tony deadpanned. Peter laughed, then lowered his head, fidgeting with his hands in his lap as he considered his next words. His mentor seemed to notice his uncharacteristic silence, and turned to look at him quizzically.

“What’re you thinking about, Pete? Spit it out.”

“Well, I just...Tony?” He hesitated.

“Yes, Peter?” The billionaire replied.

“Thank you. For, y’know, everything. But especially today. I guess, uh, Flash really has been bothering me. That was, that was nice.” He confessed, giving Tony a grateful smile.

“You can thank me by telling me when you need help. I, uh, I care about you, kid, I want you to care for yourself. Not just on the Spider-Man front, okay?” Tony sighed, covering Peter’s fidgeting hands with his own to still them.

“I think I can do that.” The kid grinned.

“Good. Now where do you want to eat?”Tony said, removing his hands to type something out on his phone.

“Eat? Don’t we have food at the Tower?” Peter asked.

“Yeah, there is food at the Tower, but the Compound is a two hour drive without traffic and I figured I should get something in you for the trip.” The billionaire shrugged. Peter’s eyes widened.

“The compound? We’re going to the Avengers Compound?” He shrieked, making Tony flinch.

“Geez, kid, yes, we’re going to the Compound. Now pick some food.” Peter grinned apologetically.

“Uh, would it be like, okay, to get Zaxby’s? I'd kill for a Nibbler right now." He asked. Tony smiled and guided the car out of the space, revving the engine as they shot out onto the main road, making the kid whoop with joy.

“Sure thing. Anything for you, Pete.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter haha  
> Thank you guys so much for reading this whole thing! It seriously means the world to me that something I do for fun and to cope has helped out other people, even a little. Never hesitate to reach out, I genuinely love talking to people!  
> My instagram is [@murdock_schmurdock](https://www.instagram.com/murdock_schmurdock/), I post art, random marvel stuff, and fic updates :)  
> luv u guys uwu

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Y'all! I had to handwrite most of this and then type it all back up, so it has taken quite a while haha. The next chapter should be out tomorrow or the day after, depending on whether I finish it tonight.  
> If you can spare a comment or a kudo, please do! And hi me up on instagram, @murdock_schmurdock :)


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